Early life

Benz was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, grew up in Murrysville, and graduated from Franklin Regional High School. Her mother, Joanne Marie (nee Seemiller), was a figure skater, and her father, George Benz, Jr., is a surgeon in Pittsburgh. The family settled in nearby Murrysville when Benz was two, and she started ice skating when she was three. She competed in the 1988 U.S. Championships in junior ice dancing with her skating partner David Schilling, and finished in 13th place. Her older brother and sister, Jeffrey and Jennifer, were the 1987 U.S. Junior Champions in ice dancing and competed internationally. When Benz was 14, she suffered a stress fracture in her right leg and had to take time off.

No Ordinary Family

No Ordinary Family is an American television series that aired on ABC and CTV in Canada. The one-hour science fiction comedy-drama was produced by ABC Studios for the 2010–11 television season. The series ran from September 28, 2010, to April 5, 2011, on Tuesdays at 8:00pm ET/PT. The show centers on the Powells, a typical American family living in fictional Pacific Bay, California, whose members gain special powers after their plane crashes in the Amazon, Brazil.

On May 13, 2011, ABC announced that No Ordinary Family had been cancelled due to low ratings. The 20 episodes are currently available online.

Cast and characters

Main cast

Michael Chiklis as James "Jim" Powell, Sr. – a police sketch artist whose power is super-strength (he can lift 11,000lbs.) He is nearly invulnerable, and can leap over tall buildings (or jump a quarter-mile). When in contact with cinoxate, his powers fail. His weakness lies in finesse and agility.

Julie Benz as Dr. Stephanie Powell (née Crane) – a scientist who works at Global Tech. She has super speed (running 10 miles in just under five seconds) and an incredibly fast metabolism that allows her to heal quickly. However, when she was attacked by Lucas Winnick, an animal-like posthuman, she was injected with the Trilsetum Coronis serum in an attempt to save her life. This allowed her to (possibly only temporarily) run faster than the speed of light, enabling time travel. She was initially working on the research of the Trilsetum Coronis, the "crown jewel" plant of the Amazon Basin. She later found out that the plant shared the same chromosomes as the family's super powered DNA.

On October 14, ABC ordered four more scripts of No Ordinary Family, although the episode order remained at 13. On October 25, ABC gave a full-season order, bringing the first season total to 22 episodes. However, the order was eventually cut to 20 in order to save room for the return of Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution. The series was officially cancelled on May 13, 2011 after one 20 episode season.